Public nursing home costs to be higher than private

THE cost of staying in a public nursing home is likely to be more expensive than a private facility under the new Nursing Home Support Scheme.

This is because the cost of staffing a public home is greater, according to consultant geriatrician Dr Christine O’Malley.

“Private homes are obliged by law to have one trained nurse. Public homes tend to run on a trained nursing staff which is why they can take on the more dependent patients,” Dr O’Malley said during a debate on the practical difficulties of the new scheme at the AGM of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in Killarney, held over the weekend.